A common piece of mailing is a direct response mailing which includes a response card that needs to be completed by the resident and returned to the sender. The direct response mailing includes a plurality of stamps or similar such members which the resident adheres to the response card to complete his or her reply. The mailing, for instance, may be for a music club in which the resident selects a preferred set of titles and adheres the stamps for those titles on the response card. As another example, the mailing may be for a sweepstakes in which the resident adheres desired game pieces to the response card. These types of mailings that include a response card and stamps to be adhered to the reply card are common and are used for various purposes.
The response card and stamps are manufactured generally in two ways. The first way involves the use of a remoistenable gummed sheet which has been perforated to form the plurality of stamps. The resident selects a desired set of stamps and then separates this desired set of stamps from the sheet. The resident next moistens the stamps, typically by licking the stamps, and then places the stamps on designated areas on the response card.
The direct response mailing having the remoistenable gummed sheet and response card has several disadvantages. For one, this type of direct response mailing has a high level of customer dissatisfaction. The residents receiving the direct response mailings dislike having to lick the stamps in order to adhere them to the response card. The residents do not like the taste of the stamps and dislike the unsanitary practice of placing a foreign object into their mouths. The mail handlers receiving the response cards would also prefer an alternative way of adhering the stamps to the response card due to hygienic issues associated with licked stamps. A further disadvantage of this type of direct response mailing is that it is often damaged in the mail due to the penetration of moisture, such as from rain or snow, to the remoistenable gummed stamps. As a result of the gummed stamps being moistened in transit, this type of direct response mailing suffers from a significant loss of a return rate due simply to the use of gummed stamps.
A preferred direct response mailing does not use any remoistenable gummed stamps but instead has a set of stamps formed with a pressure sensitive adhesive. With this type of direct response mailing, the stamps are comprised of a liner sheet overlaid with a patterned die cut set of stamps coated with the pressure sensitive adhesive. The resident removes a desired set of stamps from the liner and adheres the stamps to a response card. This type of direct response mailing having pressure sensitive stamps is preferred since residents do not need to lick the stamps in order to adhere them to the response card and since moisture does not easily damage the mailings in transit.
The direct response mailing having the stamps with a pressure sensitive adhesive, however, is not without its shortcomings. The stamps coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive are both more difficult and more expensive to manufacture. The stamps require a liner stock which is fully coated with the pressure sensitive adhesive and also requires the top sheet of stamps. The use of the liner stock and the pressure sensitive adhesive substantially increases the cost of manufacturing the stamps in comparison to a set of remoistenable gummed stamps. This type of direct response mailing also has an increased amount of waste. In addition to the reply card and the set of stamps, the direct response mailing also includes an entire liner sheet.